I back up from his embrace. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

His palm runs down his face. “I shouldn’t have allowed the possibility of the fight to happen. I could have brushed off his elbows and shoves. Because look around, Piper. You just broke up with your boyfriend in front of all these people.”

He peers around the driveway, and I follow his vision, noticing all the small groups huddled around, whispering about the incident.

“Oh.” I cringe.

He chuckles, pulling me into him again.

“Who the hell gives a shit about them? I want to kiss you so bad right now.”

With my cheek pressed against his chest, I’m about to say, Do it, when I find my mom staring at me. Her arms are crossed, and Lana is talking in her ear, but her eyes are zeroed in at me.

“I think I need to talk to my mom for a second.” I should have known she wouldn’t be happy about this. There’s always been something with Tanner that she warned me about.

Tanner must notice, and he nods his head, releasing me from his grip. “Hurry back.” His finger brushes under my chin, raising my face to meet his eyes. “And tonight is just us. Got it?”

I bite my lip and nod my head. “All yours.”

He smiles, and then I travel the tension-filled steps to my mom. When I reach her, her eyes never leave mine.

“Can you give us a minute, Lana?” she asks, those brown eyes lasered to me.

“Of course,” Lana says, squeezing my upper arm as she walks away.

Once everyone is a safe distance away, my mom finally looks down at the ground, and my dad comes alongside us, most likely seeing how on edge my mom seems.

“What’s up, girls?” he asks, casual.

I giggle from his way of lightening up the situation. As though we all didn’t witness a fistfight a second ago, my mom’s chest rises and falls as she takes deep breaths.

“We need to talk.” She walks into the garage and straight into the house.

My shoulders slump.

“Go talk to your mom.” He tosses his head to the direction of the door.

I take one last look at Tanner, who’s talking to his parents as well. He winks and smiles over to me while his mom hugs him, ecstatic at the news.

“You know she just feels left out. That was a lot for her to take in when you’ve kept so many secrets.” My dad follows me through the garage door, down the hallway, and then to the office door.

I pause outside, realizing she’s behind that door, most likely sitting at her desk with her fingers tapping on the top of it.

“Believe me, I tell her more than other girls.” My hand is on the knob.

My dad places his hand on my shoulder. “This was quite a surprise to us who have known the two of you all these years.”

When the metal twists in my hand, my heart pounds. After all this, my mother is the one who doesn’t accept it. I found out the truth about Tanner, Brad’s relented, and I broke up with Curtis. All of those things were done, but it will be my mom to halt my movement toward Tanner.

Then, it dawns on me. I’m twenty-four, not fourteen, so she can’t tell me whom to date or not. I love Tanner, and she’ll have to accept my decision. All of my internal pep talk sounds great until I open the door and find my mother’s head in her hands.

“Mom!” I screech, going to her side.

“Susan.” My dad shakes his head.

“What’s the problem? You don’t want me to be with Tanner?” I place my arm around her back and lay my head on her shoulder. “You’re this upset about it?”

Without looking up, she sniffles. “I’m upset because I asked you two days ago, and you didn’t confide in me. You looked me in the eyes and lied.” She picks up her head, and there are pools of tears in her eyes. “I want to be one of those moms who you trust and come to for advice.”

“You are!” I debate.

She shakes her head. “I’m not. What happened out there just now has been brewing this whole week, and you never said anything.”

“Mom,” I sigh.

My dad walks over, looking down at us. “Susan, this is a good thing. Tanner is a great boy,” he pleads my case.

I smile up to him and mouth, Thank you.

“I’m not saying that, but I don’t like that he hurt you before.” She swipes the water from her cheeks.

“He hurt you before?” My dad’s head cocks, and long gone is the casual jokester he usually is.

“See? That’s what I’m saying. I knew two years ago—call it mother’s intuition—that Tanner broke our daughter. She never said anything to me, and now, years later, he isn’t here for a week, and things go crazy.”

My dad laughs. “Susan, you have to let it go.” He pulls her up and hugs her tight in his arms.

“It’s hard, Chris. Brad and her are my life.”

He laughs and kisses the top of her head. “I know, and you’ve done well so far,” he kids.

She slaps his stomach. “I was being serious.”

Soon, the mood shifts, thanks to my dad. It upsets me that I deceived my mom and that she doesn’t feel included in my life. My family is everything to me, and I would never intentionally hurt her.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” I say.

She unhooks herself from my dad, staring over at me. “No.” She wipes more tears. “I’m sorry. You’re grown-up, and you don’t want to tell me every problem you have. It’s just . . . Tanner?” she questions.

I bite my lip, nodding my head. “Yeah.” God, this feels good to have him and not having anything holding me back from shouting it to anyone that will listen.

A small smile begins to cross her lips. “Yeah,” she mimics my word, stepping two strides until she’s right in front of me. “Kind of always assumed.” She shrugs.

“Mother’s instinct?” I ask.

She nods. “Something like that.”

I lean into her open arms, and she tightens them around me. She was the first person who could swallow up my pain and take it away.

“But don’t think I won’t talk to him if he hurts you again.”

“Relax, Mom. He’s not going to.” My confidence surprises me. There were times when I thought Tanner was too good for me or that he’d rather be with someone else.

“You sure?” she whispers.

My dad wraps his arms around us. “I’ll make sure of it.”

We all laugh, and then there’s a knock on the door. We release from our embrace and peer over.

“Come in,” my dad says.

A tentative Tanner peeps his head in. “Do you mind?” he asks.

I smile over at him, happy he came to find us.

“You hurt my angel?” my dad asks.

My mom laughs.

“I did. But I think I’ve made up for it.” Tanner steps into the room, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“We hurt each other,” I say, cuddling next to him, my hand splayed on his stomach.

He stares down at me, his own hand finding my hip. “Never again though,” he promises.

My heart opens for him more.

“Oh, boy. Well, you’re already a part of this family, so there’s no use in welcoming you.”

My mom steps in front of us, and soon, my dad follows suit.

“We love you, Tanner, but remember, we love her more.” My dad clasps his hand on Tanner’s bicep. Then, my dad links hands with my mom, leading them out of the room.

“Me, too, Mr. Ashby. Me, too,” he says to their retreating backs.

The door isn’t even shut when Tanner places his hands along my cheeks, and he’s angling me for his lips. My eyes close, and the heat of his breath tickles my lips. Then, his moist, tender flesh is on mine, and Tanner slows his tongue, sliding through the part of my lips, as it searches for mine. My fingers rub the back of his neck as his hands slide down my face, one flowing to the back of my head and the other settling on the small of my back. As he pulls me into him, my body molds into his while our tongues mingle together.

My body is limp by the time Tanner closes the kiss with a few chaste ones.

“God, it’s been too long since your lips were on mine.” Then, he descends again on me, kissing me a little more urgently.